Looking for a Great Dance Studio for a 3 1/2 Year Old

My daughter goes to Dance West in Naperville. She loves it.

my son attended the storm dance alliance studio. he loved it. they do a spectacular recital in the spring time. all age groups all kinds of dance. both just for fun and then if your interested they also do competition stuff. good luck. my granddaughter just started with the oswego park district. loads of fun.

School for the Arts located within Community Christian Church in Naperville is great!

Hi K.,

There is a great new dance studio called Dance Dynamics in the Aurora area. It is located in Hometown Aurora which is basically Montgomery and Farnsworth. Their website is www.dancedynamicsil.com and their phone number is ###-###-#### and ask for Brittnie. They have a 45 minute ballet and tap combo class for $44 a month. They are wonderful!

My daughter, almost 6, attend the Vaughn Dance Academy in downtown Plainfield. She's been enrolled since she was 3 1/2 - they have a tiny tots class. Right now I pay $52/month; plus recital, costume, and registration fees. We think it's well worth it, though!

I also see someone mentioned Storm Dance Alliance in Oswego off of Rt 30 heading towards Plainfield. They have all types of dance for all ages. Good Luck

Von Heidecke' Chicago Festival Ballet has classes in Naperville and Joliet. My daughters have been there for five and a half years. I really like the fact that the students are being taught in the proper way (technique).

There is a recital at the end of the summer but it is done in a theater such as the Rialto or the Paramount. They call it a "Summer Workshop" and they do just that with it. There are no expensive costumes to purchase - they wear their class leotard. Ages 3-5 have a teacher on stage with the children. The objective of the workshop is to show the parents what they have been working on during the year in a dance. Ages 6 and up dance without the teacher on stage and take an extra class in the summer if that focuses on the dance for the workshop. They still attend the other class to continue work on fundimentals. I appreciate that the focus for the year is not on the "recital piece" but on technique so as the dancers get older they have a good solid knowlegde of ballet that will allow them to excel in other forms of dance. The students watch the whole recital too instead of being in another part of the theater. This has proven to be inspirational to the dancers as they watch the progression from little ones to professional dancers. My dad appreciates that the show is under two hours long with the intermission. :) Some people take the little ones home at intermission but when my children were that age they wanted to stay and watch the "Big kids".

As the dancers get older there are opportunities for dancing in professional productions of the Nutcracker and Cinderella. If you google "Von Heidecke" and "Cinderella" I think there is a full video of it online to see. All of the costumes are owned by the studio so that cost is removed.

There are no "companies" or "competitions" here. Students from other studios in the area that want to compete do come and take classes from Ken Von Heidecke. The older dancers really enjoy taking his classes.

Mr. Von Heidecke is very professional and teaches in a soft spoken gentle manner. He was trained by Maria Tallchief and announced by her as her protege. He does travel around the world a lot as he has choreographed many ballets for companies around the world.

I know this is a long post. I do not work for the studio but I do have a lot of respect for the classes and growth I have seen in my own children. My one daughter LOVES ballet and it is from her classes here. One last tip - I prefer the studio on Theodore in Joliet as the class sizes are smaller than Naperville.